Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-09-11

authority of the Rev. Mr.. Burden and the
church. was, in his way, as religious as he
was honest. There is nothing, be fre-
ouently argued, against smuggling. either
IN Bibie or Prayer Book. AT the four great
festivals of the church he received the
sacrament; he slept every Sunday after.
ternoon over "Holy Living and Dying,
and he kept, as have said, the ROOT on the
parish church.
II was among these people that l spent
the first seventeen years OF my lie Such
education as had was given me oy tne
rector at odd moments. / could read, out
had few books, and those knew by heart:
They were BuDyan's Pilgrims Progress, .
fRobipson Crusoe" and one or two more.
Writing learned by slow degrees; my
smelling has never, l own, been correct,
nor can understand the fuss which is made
about that accomplishment If the writer's
meaning is clear, why object to the omis.
sion or the addition of letter or two!
There was little encouragement to htera-
ture in Rousdon Farm. Job and Jephthan
had learned, like myself, to read and write,
Int az they never praticed either art and
supplemented memory only by chalk marks
on the cart, suspect they had forgotten
both. Dan regarded writing as useful ior
commercial purposes and reading on the
Sunday as an aid to devotion. In respect
TO other uses there were instances when
he had heard of where a passion for books
actually led the victim, by imperceptbie
degrees, to the gallows. Certainly in those
years there were many, many roads TO
that dismal tree.
| did not read much, my duties at
home were soon got through, the rest OF my
time I spent upon the water, alone or with
Dan and on the Underclif. In the even
inc there was sewing. Bot all day long
and all the year round, rain or sunshine, l
was in the open air, gathering flowers In
the Holmbush fields, climbing among the
braken under the Pinhay cliffs, singing all
alone in the woods upon the hillsides, out
upon the sea in the dingy, or in summer
bathing and swimming where the rocks hid
ME from casual eyes which never CHANGED
to pass that way. 1t was q lonely place,
facing a lonely sea; few ships ever sailed
across that great bay save the heavy craft
which brought coal from Wales, or the
coasters which traded from port to port, or
the fishing craft from Lyme and Beer.
had the sea all to myself when l put out
in the dingy, ran up the little sail and sat
in the stern, tiller in one hand and rope in
the other, while the boat slipped through
the short crisp waves with murmurous
whish, leaving its little white track be-
hind, while my fancy ran riot and visions
such as come to the young and innocent OF
a golden and impossible future, lying among
figures indistinct and misty.
As for the times we were always at war.
During the whole of my childhood, and for
a good many years afterward, the talk was
all of war. For Internationally years Eng
land was fighting. On the south coast the
war might at any moment become more
than rumor; there was no reason why q
French Priyateer should not cross over and
do what mischief she could. Every day,
before breakfast, We all solemnly looked
out to sea-Dan with his glass-to see if
an enemy was lowering over the coast, and
once we saw q naval action. The French
man was privateer; the Englishman brig
of war carrying twelve guns They ran side
by side for while, firing necessarily, the
Englishman gradually reducing the dis
lance. At last they came to close quar-
tiers, and our men boarded her. oh, what
a sight! 1t was too far off for US to see the
horrors of battle-the dead and wounded;
but we could make out, when the smoke
cleared away, that the union jack was run
up where the French flag had been flying,
and Dan solemnly, with tears in his eyes,
thanked the God Of victory. 1t was brave
and gallant action; they made the comman'
der Of the brig first lieutenant for it;
then they sent him out to Jamaica, where
they forgot him altogether, although he did
plenty OF other things quite as good. This
was the way they used to treat our brave
sailors. Thirty years afterward he came
home, still first lieutenant, and bald, by
reason of the many men who had climbed
up over his head.
Heavens! how brave our men were, and
what fights they fought! They cut out
French ships under the guns of their own
batteries. They engaged vessels double
their own weight; whenever they saw an
enemy's ship they attacked her. The papers
were full of naval actions, which were al
ways victories. Inever saw the papers but
l heard the news whenever Dan came back
from Lyme. BOnaparte was going to in
wade England, and made enormous prepa-
rations; the whole country took up arms,
young and old; the war fever possessed the
British bull dogs. There was no fear in
our hearts, nor any hesitation. Looking
back upon that time, l can only feel that
surely none other than the hand Of God was
upon us; how else could we, fighting
against such odds as never any other ma
ton encountered, have fought so bravely,
and finished the struggle with so much
honor?